My husband and I have had a "budget" worked up for a while now but starting in august we are beginning to work the baby steps and really need to actually STICK to the budget that we have failed miserably at thus far. August is ofcourse a very unsure month and very tight due to a smaller paycheck he's getting on the July 30th paycheck due to some unpaid days he had to take last month. We had a lot of unsure expenses so should i be over budgeting so we have "extra" instead of less or just go with an average or best guess. We anticipate a lot of emergency budget meetings this month since so many things are unknowns.
But i'm confused about how to get control of this.
We'll use envelope for Groceries, joint blow money and separate blow money. We will use debit for gas tracked on Mint and he will use debit for groceries for the rare times when he needs to stop to pick something up. We are paid on the 10th, 15th, 25th, and 30th of the month. Mortgage we usually pay at the beginning. i feel like it would be easier to pay from the end but switching would require us to pay double one month. So its gotta come out of the beginning.
Do you guys bother dividing up when to take money out when or just know what paycheck big bills are coming from and take out cash when you can?
I know dave has the budget form where you divide up what you are spending each week. Should i try to get all that figured out and divide that among pay periods instead. And should i try to get that figured out weekly/per pay period and get that down to zero or just enough to get a rough idea since things like gas are going to vary throughout the month. Should i be counting the July 30th paycheck as the first paycheck for August?
I know this is going to take a while to get used to but i'm looking for some guidance as to what you all have found works best or how you work dividing expenses among paychecks.
But i'm confused about how to get control of this.
We'll use envelope for Groceries, joint blow money and separate blow money. We will use debit for gas tracked on Mint and he will use debit for groceries for the rare times when he needs to stop to pick something up. We are paid on the 10th, 15th, 25th, and 30th of the month. Mortgage we usually pay at the beginning. i feel like it would be easier to pay from the end but switching would require us to pay double one month. So its gotta come out of the beginning.
Do you guys bother dividing up when to take money out when or just know what paycheck big bills are coming from and take out cash when you can?
I know dave has the budget form where you divide up what you are spending each week. Should i try to get all that figured out and divide that among pay periods instead. And should i try to get that figured out weekly/per pay period and get that down to zero or just enough to get a rough idea since things like gas are going to vary throughout the month. Should i be counting the July 30th paycheck as the first paycheck for August?
I know this is going to take a while to get used to but i'm looking for some guidance as to what you all have found works best or how you work dividing expenses among paychecks.